Volkswagen teams up with Sanyo for battery R&D
Volkswagen is partnering up with Sanyo to jointly develop high-performance energy storage systems, or in laymen speak batteries that can store LOTS of juice. According to Vee-Dub, Sanyo is currently the world’s biggest supplier of lithium-ion batteries in terms of market share, and will invest over US$769 million over the next 7 years in this project.
The joint development program will focus on lithium ion batteries, which Volkswagen hopes will be able to bring concept cars such as the Volkswagen Golf TDI Hybrid and the Audi metroproject quattro (shown above) to production. Both of these concept cars can run solely on the electric motor, without using the combustion engine.
“Our focus in future will be directed more strongly at making electrically powered automobiles alongside ones driven by more efficient combustion engines. Drivetrain electrification is the way forward if we wish to secure mobility in tomorrows world. This will involve energy recovery. The whole idea will be to no avail, however, as long as we do not have powerful energy storage systems at our disposal and as long as vehicle operations are not in tune with customer demands. This cooperation is an important step for us,” says Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn.
Volkswagen hopes to have their first production lithium-ion powered vehicle out in 2 years time.
May 28, 2008 @ 4:47 pm
That’s the future. An battery powered electric vehicle but with a small diesel for backup power.
Honda talks about generating your own hydrogen at home using electricity but that is very inefficient. You’re better off using the electricity to charge the battery.
May 28, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
I think..I remember somewhere the colour of this car….emmmmm…similiar like the SAGA RED.
May 28, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
I think.. I remember somewhere colour of this car…emmmm… Similiar like the SAGA RED.
May 28, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
We are waiting for you VAG…
May 28, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Whatever it is, it has to come out quick. Fuel is getting expansive by the day…
May 28, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
Imagine if companies had spent as much as on batteries R+D as countries spend on a single oil or gas platform, we may have had viable energy storage already.
May 28, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
The future is here, it’s whether we can accept it or not.
I knew it all long, it’s not the extinction of oil motivated mankind to produce electrically powered automobiles but it’s the soaring prices of oil motivated us. What a shame…..
May 28, 2008 @ 11:11 pm
i bet the car will be damn quiet when using the electric motor, easy to do drive by’s and snatch thefts!
lol.
May 29, 2008 @ 12:35 am
Sanyo is world’s biggest supplier of li-ion batteries? not Matsushita?
May 29, 2008 @ 7:05 am
How about Sony’s? Are they afraid it will explode like the one in the laptops.